The Calm in the Storm
by HiImNobody
Summary: Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian has concluded, but Percy finds himself heading back to camp for the next summer, but he can't let his guard down. Monsters still exist, but so do his friends and more importantly Annabeth... things might take a turn for the interesting.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors notes: This is my First Fan-Fiction on Percy Jackson and Friends, it is based in the reasonable calm after the storm that is "The Last Olympian" it's based on Percy's kindling feelings towards Annabeth and I'll try to throw in some exciting parts in.**

**The chapter is rated T for everyone, but future chapters may not be as child friendly, be warned that it may potentially get graphic.**

Chapter 1: Back to Camp  
_Percy's P.O.V_

My vision blurred as I sat on the bus waiting for it to leave the station, partly because of the tears that threatened to tumble over my eye lids, partly because the engine was making the whole bus vibrate vertically. Don't be too quick to worry though, they were tears of happiness, I think. I was leaving the city to go to my second home for the summer; Camp Half-Blood.

You might be thinking," Hey, Perce?, what's so bad about going to camp?"  
Well, first of all I was leaving my mother for the whole summer, that's a third of a year, to be taken care of by one of the teachers at my school. I mean, yeah, he was her boyfriend but still, waaaay weird.

My teeth jarred against each other as the bus abruptly lurched forward into motion. It's definitely not all bad going to Camp Half-Blood though, basically every friend I really cared about goes there, Not to mention my super hot, extremely pretty, sort of nerdy girlfriend: Annabeth, and when I say nerdy I mean good nerdy, she loved to read books, all that stuff that I found tedious and monotonous, but she was also really into athletics, which gave her a great body, and she was hot... Did I mention that, uhh.

I looked out the window just in time to realise that my stop... Had already gone past, great. Now I had a awesome thirty minute hike to camp, as I started walking my mind drifted off again, I started thinking about my double life, the one in which I risked my life daily to keep the bloodthirsty monsters at bay, my mindless day-dreaming was brought to an end when out of the corner of my eye I saw something brown and furry disappear into a thick bush. I uncapped my sword and quickly admired its sheen, I had polished it just before I said goodbye to my mother and Paul. I realised that although it was shining, it wasn't glowing which means that it didn't sense any monsters, but I didn't put it away, you never know when something brown and furry might jump you from a bush. Despite the feeling as if something was lurking just out of my sight I trudged on, determined to get to camp before night fall. Fifteen minutes later my legs were aching and my shirt was plastered to my back and covered in sweat, but I could see the hill on which stood a magnificent oak tree that had a golden sweater hanging on a low branch, which made it look like it was overlooking the whole valley, I took a deep breath and pushed my muscles even harder, so I could reach the hill as fast as I could. I heard a plant rustle behind me... I swung around, pen in hand to see a pair of dark Black eyes, looking at me from inside a thick bush and then as quickly as I had turned the eyes receded into the surrounding shadows.

The rest of my journey was uneventful, except for when I tripped on the roots of Thalia's tree... As I walked down the other side of the hill guarding anyone's view into the camp, it spread out in front of me, a huge lake in the centre of the green, picturesque valley. It looked like a flat, sparkling, turquoise Sapphire and I remembered how that was my second favourite part of the camp, the first being my cabin. (I'd had renovations done, now there were rooms, huge TVs and best of all a soundproof bedroom).


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors notes: hope you guys enjoy this one, I might go further into the sexual tension of Percy and Annabeth, but for now they just love each other as BF and GF.**

Chapter 2: I could get used to this  
Percy's P.O.V

As I strolled down the hill I saw something that caught my eye, and held it tightly. Over by the pier going into the lake I saw her, the girl of my dreams. As I got closer to the buildings my view of her was increased and I saw that she was on her laptop, no doubt looking at some extremely confusing architectural blueprints, I decided that instead of going straight to her I would quickly take a shower and get a new pair of clothes on. After I had taken a shower I quickly threw on a pair of board shorts (swimming trunks) and an orange "Camp Half-Blood" T-Shirt, then I quickly made my way to the beach. As I got closer I saw Annabeth still deeply looking at her computer screen and wondered whether I should scare her or be nice? I decided to be nice... For today.

I wrapped my arm around her waist and rested it on her right thigh as I sat next to her.  
"Hey, seaweed brain." Annabeth whispered as she closed her laptop to look at me.

Damn, she was stunning! Her blonde curls cascaded over her shoulders and down her back, almost to waist length and framing her face perfectly, she tilted her head in confusion and looked at me, knocking a perfect curl over her eyes. Her beautiful stormy, grey eyes, my hand reached up and carefully brushed away the curl and tucked it behind her ear, not before lightly tracing my index finger on her prominent jaw line. I felt her shudder and smiled, this was the woman I loved and I would never let anything happen to her.

"You're staring at me like you want to eat me." she smirked

"Maybe I do." Shooting her a knowing glance, I grinned as her face as she registered shock and then widened a little bit to give me a withering stare

"What are you fiddling on, in that little laptop of yours?" I said to Annabeth and then I chuckled when her face lit up ready to tell me all about what she loved doing. But, I wouldn't have traded moments like these for anything.

"Oh My Gods, Percy." she gushed as words flowed forth explaining what she was going to build in the courtyard in Olympus.

As she talked I looked deeply into her eyes and studied her, her face morphed quickly, changing different expressions as she explained that Mr. D (our camp director, also known as Dionysus, The wine god) was making her build him a beautiful tribute to him and what temple she was going to build for her mother. As I looked at her attractive lips and face I stopped concentrating on her words and more her graceful movements, that I realised I overlooked almost everyday. Before even I knew it, my lips were clashed against hers, halting her conversation about why the fountain should not be in the middle but more to the side of the Olympus pavilion, as she realised what was happening she stop resisting and sunk into me as our tongues battled a war with each other, neither of us wanting to win but both of us wanting to fight. As we kissed I wrapped my arms around her waist and picked her up to gently place her in my lap, not even breaking the kiss, as my thoughts started turning into mush my body went on autopilot, I reached my right arm around her back and start to trace small figure eights in the small of her back, my hands must have been cold or something because as soon as I started to do that she shivered intensely. Before I exactly realised what was happening I was on top of her in the sand and she was pulling my shirt over my hea...

*someone coughed* and as I looked up I saw Grover and Juniper watching us with wide eyes, and then I noticed Annabeth look up after the lack of passionate kissing. I could practically feel the heat from her cheeks radiate onto my chest when she blushed.

"Erm erm." I coughed, looking at Grover pointedly. He finally took the hint and said to Juniper.

"Yeah, yeah let's head over to the... Things" dragging her away.

Now it was Annabeths turn to cough pointedly as I realised I was still leaning over her without a shirt. I grinned at her and pulled her into another short kiss, but still filled with passion as I lifted her to her feet. By now her face was covered in random curls of her own her, I pushed them off her face gently, as she said.

"I think its time to go to dinner now, Percy"

" yep, sure" I chuckled whilst she picked up Daedalus' laptop off the sand, she looked at me with a whole new blush creeping onto her face, she looked even cuter now with a slight pink shade tinging her cheeks.

I was hoping that this summer would be the best I've ever had, but by the first day I had already forgotten about leaving the city and all I wanted to do was stay here forever, with my friends, as we walked towards the pavilion the smell of delicious food was wafting our way, so we picked up the pace and got there quickly, when I parted from Annabeth to go to my own private little Poisedon table, I saw her steal a glance at me before realising I had noticed and then blush even more than before. Ahh, I thought contentedly, this would be a great summer.


	3. Chapter 3

**authors notes: the reason I'm trying to go into this lovey-Dover stuff, is because Rick Riordan never really did and I wasted to answer for him. Next chapter will be a bit more dangerous. Enjoy.**

Chapter 3: If only it could only last forever  
Annabeth's P.O.V

I sat at at the Athenian table, my body quaking ever so slightly, the hubbub of voices simmering on the edge of loud and acceptable, I turned and tried to steal a glance at Percy, and for a second I realised why my body was shivering quietly, he sat three tables over, slouching nonchalantly over his marble table, looking completely unconcerned. His wavy black hair almost covered his left eye, but is could just see an emerald green eye staring at me in question. I looked away, blatantly aware of heat coming from my cheeks, they felt like they were burning, I looked back and he was laughing quietly at me from his own table, then he accidentally dipped his elbow into his food, he pursed his lips and his thick eyebrows furrowed downwards... What a seaweed brain.

After everybody finished eating I left the Athenian table to join up with Percy, Grover and Juniper, as I walked to where all four of us usually meet, something tapped me on the shoulder, I whirled around and was surprised to see Grover standing there with his hands on his hip, and a funny look on his face? What was it, disappointment or knowing?

"So, what was happening at the beach?" He said with a whisper of a grin curling up his mouth.

"Nothing!" I stammered trying to sound defiant, probably not what it came out sounding like.

"Hah! You and Percy were going to get it on right!"

"No." I said without a doubt, I knew Percy wouldn't do anything if I didn't want him to, it's part of the reason I love him so much.

A familiar voice called out to Grover and I.

"What's going on over there?"

I looked over and saw Percy mounting the steps to the pavilion entrance.

"Nothing, kelp head" I yelled back, Grover sighed next to me and I looked at him, I probably looked confused because he said.

"You know I'm right, right?" I frowned and said nothing, just as Percy got to us.

"We're gonna miss the camp fire, if you guys don't hurry up." He huffed

"Did those stairs get the best of you?" I snickered at him.

"It's only 'coz I just ate Annabeth." He said in a jokingly pained voice.

"Well I gotta go meet Juniper or she'll start getting worried." Grover said as he ran down the stairs like a mountain goat. Percy looked at me questioningly as we strolled down the grand staircase, I looked at him and shrugged, gesturing that I had no idea what Grover was talking about, I knew it was a lie but there was no point making Percy feel embarrassed.

When we got the campfire, Percy and I took a place at the back, going unnoticed, it was totally my style. By the time all the campers had arrived, darkness had completely enveloped the camp, except for the rainbow flames that lit up a small circle around the fire pit everywhere was so dark it felt I was looking at dark purple sludge. Although the ground was pitch black the sky lit up around her like millions of very bright fireflies, one constellation in particular she focused on was the constellation of a girl running with a bow, the constellation of Zöe Nightshade. As the night got later, the flames started to burn a deep green colour that reminded her of something, but she couldn't quite place what is was. The flames made sure that almost everyone was at a comfortable temperature, but unfortunately due to Grover and my conversation, Percy and I were at the very back and I could tell that I was going to start shivering soon. I felt Percy's arm slither around my back and come to a rest on my waist, I felt my eyelids shutting involuntarily and realised that I need to go to my cabin soon for sleep, but to hell with that idea. I ended up burying my head into the crook of his neck. He hugged me close. Realising that I was cold from the goosebumps on my forearm, Percy surrounded me with his arms trying to give me as much warmth as possible.

"Thanks, seaweed brain." I yawned, breathing in his scent deeply, he smelled exactly like the ocean. I guess that's what you get when you're the son of Poisedon.

"No worries, wise girls." He murmured, and with that I drifted off into sleep, and for once I dreamed of nothing but happy thoughts.

Percy's P.O.V

Beside me Annabeth shivered, for such a wise girl she should have realised it was going to be fairly cold out, I put my arm around her and felt how cold she was, I pulled her in closer and she put her head under my chin. Her aroma rushed my senses, leaving me feeling a bit brain dead for a second, I closed my eyes and focused on her scent, it reminded me of a smoothie I once had... Sort of. It smelled like Blackberries and Raspberries freshly blended, there was a faint sound of murmuring and I realised Annabeth had spoken to me, she had thanked me? For what? I responded numbly. Holy Hades I was really getting distracted by the scent of freshly broken berries, after a while of just sitting there, and watching the multi-colour flames, her breathing settled into a rhythm and I realised she had fallen asleep, I was also feeling tired so I realised we would have to move soon. I lifted her as gently as possible into a bridal style carrying stance. As I walked over to the cabin 6, people started pointing and whispering. But I didn't mind, maybe it was how tired I was or something, but I felt a distinct sense of pride as I carried her to her bed. I tucked her into the quilt, but as I walked to the Doorway I quickly glanced back, her blonde curls were a mess all over her shoulders and covering some of her face, I quickly strode back and pulled the hair out of her face.

"Much better." I said softly into her ear.

"Mngnhuem." She muttered unintelligibly, she was really cute when she was asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**authors notes: chapter 4! Hope you all enjoy :) **

Chapter 4: Rustle  
Percy's P.O.V

A sharp knock on my cabin front door tore me from my not so peaceful dreams, I looked at the clock and saw the time *5:36am* and I blinked.

"Who in the gods names decided to wake me up this early" I growled quietly to myself. I quickly answered the door, standing in front of me was a huge, looming, horse-like figure.

"Chiron?" I guessed.

"Yes boy, I am sorry to wake you up at such and hour but I believe a quest has thrust itself upon you.

"Gods damn it." I hissed to myself. I had thought this summer would be peaceful, or relatively so because of the defeat of Kronos and his army of monsters and Demi-gods alike.

"It's not monsters this time Percy, but it is not necessarily better or worse" Chiron whispered grimly, trying not to wake up the other sleeping campers.

"Let us talk in the big house Percy, we may be able to get a little privacy" said Chiron, I looked around but didn't see anyone at all, I looked at Chiron and raised an eyebrow in question but he just shook his head and we walked on, to the big house.

Once we were in the big house Chiron started shuffling around nervously, clacking his hooves on the scuffed wooden floor.

"Percy, before I tell you what the quest is, I have to know if you accept it or not." He said in a serious voice. A bunch of things rolled through my mind struggling for dominance; should I take the quest, what would await me, SLEEEEP and who would I bring on my quest? I battled them all of and tried to clear my head.

"Okay, I accept." I yawned, trying not to sound like I was dying from lack of sleep was harder than I expected. I looked at Chiron and could tell he was worried, maybe it was because I was tired, I thought drowsily?

"Alright." He said with a resigned sigh, "This quest is a special request from Hephaestus, several of his Automatons have gone, haywire." Said Chiron, "and they are spread all over the continent." He added, almost as an after thought.

"Great." I thought, Automatons are notoriously hard to kill, because usually they are only fully killed after you dice them up into small pieces or you disconnect the motherboard from the connecting wires, that will shut 'em down as well, in other words, cut there heads off and they "might" stop working.

"Okay, when do I start?" I said.

"You may leave whenever you like, within a reasonable time frame" said Chiron, "Oh." He said, his face paling a little, "this quest, is to be done on your own".

I walked back to my cabin, and looked around. It was still dark but I could see streaks of a brilliant orange and pale pink bordering the almost dark purple lake, it was a very picturesque scene and reminded me of a postcard cover. But just like that, I was jerked out of my deep thoughts by rustling in a nearby fern tree, I spun around wondering who was there and was greeted by a pair of brown eyes staring at me, unblinking. I realised that it was the same pair of eyes that I had glimpsed on my way into camp, it could not have been a monster because they couldn't get in through the camp boundaries... Unless someone wanted them to. With a start I realised it was a dog, it slowly trotted out of the tree, and started to sniff my hand, huh. It must have classified me as a friend, he looked up at me his dark brown eyes glinted with intelligence.

Yes, I decided it was a he, he just... Looked like a he?

This dog definitely wasn't what he looked like though, nothing ever was in Camp Half-Blood, he wouldn't have wandered in if he was just a normal bull mastiff. Then as quick as lightning he was off, and scurried into a nearby bush. I realised I hadn't heard him disappear, I wonder I heard him in the fern tree? Maybe he had wanted me to find him.

As I got to my cabin I started to get stuff ready to go and fight robots, sounds comical doesn't it? I packed my backpack full of stuff to help out my quest, counting it off; Ambrosia, Nectar, over 300 dollars worth of mortal money, roughly 30 drachmas, food, water and all the other essential things. I put on a pair of durable jeans and a green Camp Half-Blood shirt and set off. Half way up the hill I realised something... I couldn't leave Annabeth just like that, she would be worried sick.

I placed a crumpled piece of paper on her bed-side table, before quietly tip-toeing out of her cabin, mindful not to wake anyone up...they would be pissed. I hiked to the peak of the hill to Thalia's tree and looked back down at the camp. The sun had almost fully risen and the sky had turned a crisp blue colour, for some reason I felt like I wouldn't make it back to the camp in as good a condition I was now. I walked down the hill and realised the dog I had seen earlier on, was running behind me, I waited a bit for it to catch up then kept walking.

"You coming along for the journey then, buddy?" I said to the dog, he barked at me in agreement.

"Well, what we gonna call you then?", he looked at me and I realised he must be giving me the choice. "How about... Justin?"

He barked again. Off we walked, to battle giant robots. I grinned.

_The Note_

_Dear Annabeth,_  
_Did I ever tell you why I liked you?_  
_It's because your independent and can look after yourself, otherwise I wouldn't have left so quickly. I wanted to get to fighting huge robots._  
_I guess you could think of it this way; the sooner I leave, the sooner I come back._  
_Don't worry, I'll be back._

_Love ya ;)_

_-Percy_


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors notes: Hey! It's chapter 5, hope you enjoy, it's a long one ;) +1400 words. Shoutout to Jillybean210 for my first review. This is the first and last time I say this; please review my stories or just leave a comment, it brightens my day and by leaving my feedback, I can hopefully get better. Enjoy!**

Chapter 5: Why do we sleep?  
Annabeth P.O.V

Waking up this morning was terrible, it was like an iron fist had grabbed my heart and torn it out of chest, leaving a throbbing mess of tangled emotions. All he left was a crumpled piece of paper, and for that a small part of me resented him a little bit, but the words written in messy cursive on the inside of the paper were much more heart wrenching, at first I thought he had left me behind because he didn't want me to get hurt.

"Typical Percy." I had whispered to myself, when I heard myself I sounded more wounded than I thought I did, that's no way for a daughter of Athena to sound. Later on Chiron had told me that Percy's quest was preferred that it be done by the single best warrior in our camp.

"Percy isn't the best." I had argued, not because I doubted his abilities but more because I was in denial. Who sends a Demi-god on a quest alone? The trusted number was 3, because it was not to many and not to little.

The following day was the most torturous thing I had endured in months, I dragged myself to all the activities, everyone quickly realised my mind was somewhere else when one of the Stoll brothers disarmed me in close-quarters combat training, to be fair to myself I had annihilated him the second time around, almost dis-locating his wrist. I had become merciless, so nobody wanted to spar with me. I felt slightly dejected but I quickly realised nobody would notice if I left, so I did and I stayed in my cabin room for the rest of the day, not sulking... But thinking, worriedly.

As I laid there, on my bed toying with Daedalus' laptop I realised that I could hear singing coming from outside, huh, I realised I had missed dinner. Probably would have skipped it anyways, I shrugged to myself miserably. That night as I slept I had one of the worst dreams I've ever had, it wasn't gruesome but distressing.

Percy was sprinting along a peer, it was pitch black and I could hear water sloshing against the shore, the smell of seaweed was almost overwhelming, but I detected a tinge of something else, something that I smelled almost everyday... It was the smell that permeated through the whole of the Hephaestus cabin, it was the smell of melted Celestial-bronze. Why in the gods could I smell that? Suddenly I shifted to first-person view of my boyfriend, I could feel everything he felt. I could physically feel the sea writhing underneath me, everyone of my senses was urging me to dive in and replenish my strength, now I understood why Percy loved the camp lake, water almost screamed strength, I also winced slightly as I felty he dull throb of a huge gash on the side of his left thigh, it must have stretched from his lower leg to his hip bone, opening up a huge tear in his jeans. All of a sudden a gigantic bronze pillar, thing reached out of the water and took a swipe, I felt Percy roll and the swish of wind indicated he had successfully evaded the danger, as Percy looked up, I realised what was attacking him, a huge bronze squid rose out of the murky water, it was almost the size of the big house at the front of the camp, it flailed its long, dangerous tentacles in the air. As I looked I saw that two of the tentacles were misshapen, they looked as if they had been melted and not moulded properly, the squid lashed one of its tentacles at the exact time Percy leaped at the creatures head, I felt the tentacle swat Percy and the ribs fracture inside my... His chest, as Percy hit the ground a soft rap at the cabin door swiftly woke me up, and just like that, the link was broken and I was left feeling like something had gone horribly wrong.

I opened the door and a wide eyed, Grover was standing there... Chewing on an empty tin can. I stood there, silently enraged at being awoken from a important vision, or so I thought.

A part of the shiny tin was dribbling out of Grover's mouth as he spoke, "Annabeth, the empathy link has gone dark". That was it, I slammed the door in his face, I heard a wretched yowl and realised he must have been standing too close to the door, not my fault. Before long I was ready to leave and I marched out the door, I was going figure out what happened to Percy.

Grover's P.O.V

I methodically massaged my nose as I sat on a decent sized log that had been carved into a seat, after knocking on Annabeth's door I had gotten a huge bruise on my nose, after she slammed the door in my face... Literally. I don't understand why she had reacted so violently after I told her that the empathy link had shattered, I mean one second I was sleeping happily thinking about food and then the next it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach and stolen all the oxygen in my lungs.

A door clanged open sharply and I ran to catch up with a dark figure, undoubtably it would be Annabeth. I caught sight of her marching up to Thalia's tree, which to me felt like a beacon of wilderness, All nature spirits were absolutely ecstatic when they got close to the tree. As I got closer I yelled to her.

"I know where your going Annabeth!", she turned around swiftly and shot me a look of despair... She looked horrible, her eyes were pink, puffy and tear streaked. She didn't wear any makeup but I imagined that if she did all her mascara would be running down the side of her cheeks.

"What then?" She whispered, it was a voice of absolute agony, she looked like she was defeated. I stared at her and noticed that beneath the look of defeat on her face, was an expression of determination.

"I am going to accompany you, as your protector and your friend." The words sounded familiar to me, like I had said them before. Not that it mattered, I was just trying to convey a message. Have you ever heard the expression "a cornered animal, is more dangerous than an animal with an escape", this is what she reminded me of, she looked like she was daring someone to try and stop her, and if they did she would savagely tear them apart.

"No one is here to stop you." I said, staring around obviously, spreading my arms wide and rotating in a 360 degree circle. She turned around and kept walking, I fought to catch up, when I did I said.

"Do you even know where he is, Annabeth?", she looked at me worriedly.

"No." Admitted Annabeth, she sounded like she was having trouble keeping herself together.

"So we're just going to search each city until we find the right one?", almost on cue something rustled in the bushes, and as Annabeth and I turned to look at where the sound had come from, an absolutely huge Bull Mastiff trotted out into the open glaring at us balefully. Annabeth gasped and said.

"I know this creature... Isn't it the Laelaps?".

"Like the dog that was turned into a star?".

"Sort of, the story is that Artemis gave a dog that always successfully hunted its prey to a beautiful mistress, and the mistress thought that it was a good idea to send the dog after a fox that could never be caught, after a while of a un-ending loop of hunt and escape, Zeus was perplexed by what was going on and turned them both into a constellation." States Annabeth, boy was she a know-it-all sometimes.

"Hey boy" she said in a baby voice. The dog walked forward and looked at Annabeth carefully.

"Can you show us the way to Percy?", after a while the dog tilted it head and looked at us both, before heading of into the brush. Annabeth and I shrugged at each other and followed, running after the large dog.


	6. Chapter 6

**Austhors notes: Sorry this one is so short, I want to try and put them up daily but school takes up most of my time. I'll have something better up tomorrow hopefully, never the less. Enjoy :D.**

Chapter 6: The original 3  
Percy's P.O.V

Justin wasn't nearly as useless as I originally thought he would be. After getting off the bus in New York I realised that he sort of... Just knew where the destinations were, not that I was complaining, I had no idea where to go.

It was getting dark and I had been trailing behind Justin for over an hour when I started to hear a sort of metallic creaking sound, It sounded like two pieces of metal were being scratched together, it sort of reminded me of Yancy academy almost 6 years ago now, the teachers used to scrape the blackboard with there sharp fingernails, to attract the attention of the students. Damn just remembering it now made me shiver. Justin and I crept closer to the source of the noise, as we got closer, I realised that Justin had completely stopped making noise, the clattering of his nails on the Tarmac was now non-existent, I wonder how he did it. If I was ever in any doubt of him being magical, that was washed away when I realised how silent he was creeping, he would make an excellent hunter it seemed, but then again it's probably how he survived, seeing as I found him in the middle of the woods.

After a couple minutes of creeping towards the sound, dodging in and out deserted alleyways and roads, we finally found the source of the noise. There was a dude sitting in a garage that looked much too small for his size, he was about 8 foot tall... And he was made out of celestial bronze. I decided that was probably because this was definitely one of the rogue automatons running around the US, we would probably do better if I jumped him with the element of surprise.

As I sneaked around to the wall of the garage, I heard the grinding sound cease I had reflexively frozen immediately in the middle of the street and then thought better of it and dove into the shadows of a nearby lane way. The mechanical man clunked out onto the street awkwardly, I realised what the grinding sound was, after I noticed that the robots leg was dented severely, causing it it limp at the best of times, it must have been trying to repair itself. It stopped there and surveyed the area, it looked like it was listening intently. I saw Justin trot into view of the robot from a nearby alley, the mech studied him closely probably wondering if he was a threat or not. With the giant robot distracted, I lunged. My sword piercing the back of the head, it flailed wildly in vain, trying to get the sharp object out if it's core processor. Even now I could feel its movements getting sluggish as the messages from its "brain" were cut off at the stem, after about 30 seconds the metal man drooped to the ground, and landed with a thud. I stood over it marvelling at the beautiful design in its metal, there were Greek letters, words and phrases carved into its shell of bronze. As I looked down I was something pulsating beneath the two breast plates protecting the mans chest, I bent down to get a closer look but ended up wrenching one of the bronze plates out of the way, because I could only see a slither poking through. What was laying in front of me was breathtakingly beautiful, this must be where the robot drew it power from, it was a smooth disk about the size of two hands cupped together, it was also made out of bronze like the automaton and had even more delicate carvings on it, the engravings seemed to glow silver whenever you looked at them in your peripheral vision, but what really caught my eye was the deep blue orb that slowly rotated in the middle of the the disk, it was like something you would see in Star Wars, it looked like it was hanging on invisible string and the disk was orbiting about it. The orb itself had a delicate mist writhing through the impossibly deep blue of the orb, I stuffed it inside my backpack trying to keep it as padded as possible, maybe Annabeth would like this, her birthday was coming up so maybe I'd give it to her then.  
Then Justin was off at a canter, and I had to race to catch up. Off to fight another robot, hopefully they were all this easy. Boy was I wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors notes: this chapter is rated M, so please realise this chapter requires maturity. hope you all enjoy ;)**

Chapter 7: Re-United  
Percy's P.O.V

I looked around and saw the beginning of a beach through the thick darkness, it was so dark the air around me looked black. Although I could clearly see Justin, he was illuminated with a slightly silver glow that permeated through the darkness, the smell of the sea was intoxicating to me and I could sense that we were walking about 30ft from the beach front. Suddenly the darkness lessened slightly and I could see a wooden pier, that was rotting slightly in some places. I walked to the edge of the water and peered into it, I could see through it like an X-Ray, but most people would have seen the water as black as night. At the bottom I saw what was undoubtably my second foe, it was a huge bronze squid, and it was looking right at me.

The colossal beast surged straight at me, it was going exceptionally fast. I ran back to the edge of the sand as the huge squid burst out of the the water in an explosion of liquid. Before I knew it, the beast was swinging its plated tentacles at me, I ran to the pier and started sprinting along the side, trying to dodge the tentacle that would inevitably jab at me... But the squid had disappeared. I looked in the water and saw a bronze tentacle whip up at me, it hit me in the leg and tore a huge gash into my leg. I howled in pain, fortunately it would be quickly fixed with some Ambrosia afterwards, assuming I survived that is. All of a sudden the squid writhed out of the sea in a flail of tentacles, I saw its far right tentacle tense to take a swing at me and I leaped at its face, hoping to get a lucky brain shot and kill it instantly like the last one. Too late I saw a tentacle from its left side lash out, it intercepted my mid-flight and sent me flying into the water. As I sunk, I felt the ribs inside my chest heal from the fractures that the squid just inflicted and I felt like I had just grown to double my size because of the influx of strength. I commanded the currents to take me up to surface as fast as they could, as I rocketed through the water I saw the squid surging away from the beach and moved on an intercept course, I bet it hadn't counted on me being a son of Poisedon.

I landed on its head as it floated away from the beach and felt it buck suddenly, I was almost thrown off before I could get a good handhold on one of the many slick plates of metal. As I was holding on I noticed a service hatch in the side of it head, I struggled over as the squid dived down, submerging us both in water. I used the water to hold me in position, I pried the hatch open and hopped in. As if knowing that I was climbing into its head, the squid started to thrash wildly but it was in vain because I was already closing the hatch.

Inside was a room about the size of a restroom, but I had to stoop a bit so that my head didn't slam against the roof every time the squid shook violently. Inside the small room was a pedestal and on it, another disk. This time instead of the orb being on the inside of the circle It was floating on the outside of the disk, orbiting around the metal slowly. This orb was an amazing purple and reminded me of a night sky because It looked like there was stars floating around inside of it. Considering that the last disk I had found was probably the robots point of power, I figured removing it would be pretty obvious. I placed my hand on the disk, feeling it smoothly rotate against my palm and wrenched the thing out of the pedestal. I felt the squids energy dwindle rapidly and realised that I might want to consider getting out of here before the metal fell to pieces.

As I returned to the surface of the water, I glanced at the second disk I had found. It remained untouched by the water because I was holding it, and I wondered what would happen if the water touched it. Would it explode? Would it short circuit, and cut off the graceful spinning pirouette it was performing? Who knows, and I didn't really want to find out. My head broke the surface and I realised that I was miles out at sea, I could only just see the land because the sun was rising behind it, the currents pushed me towards the beach where this had all started. It took about a minute before I got to the beach and during that time I had started to unzip my backpack to put the disk in there. I landed on the beach completely dry and took out both of the disks I had collected, they looked almost exactly the same, but it was like the bottom of the blue orb disk, fit with the top of the purple orb disk, I curiously slid the two together and watched in amazement as they both melded into one. The orbs stayed indifferent but the disks merged together, it looked almost exactly the same but the disk was orbiting the blue orb and the purple was orbiting the disk, it looked like it was made by Alaina, extremely cool. Once again I stowed it in my backpack, I had a feeling that it might be useful eventually. I finally looked up at my surroundings and realised that Justin had completely disappeared.

"Justin," I called loudly, "c'mere boy."

He didn't come to me and I wondered if he just got bored and wanted to go do something else, well he helped me a lot anyway. Then I realised that Chiron had said that their were 3 rogue automatons, I had no idea where the last one was.

"Screw it." I finally thought, I had defeated two of the robots in one night and probably wouldn't be as lucky with the next one. In the state I'm in I definitely need to have a shower and get some sleep, I opened up my bag and grabbed out a wad of cash. It was about 70 dollars, that would definitely do for a day and night in a motel.

After sleeping and having a shower, paired with a new set of jeans and a yellow Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt I felt like a new man. I sat down and watched a bit of TV with a packet of crisps in hand, it had been a while since I had done this because at camp, tv networks don't broadcast, magical interference or something. I was just starting to relax, when I heard a sharp knock on the door. I got up and subconsciously pulled out riptide, but didn't uncap him. I opened the door slowly, and I noticed Justin prance through the door first. I looked up too late to see Annabeth tackle me into a crushing hug, having almost no time to brace my self all I could do was try not to fall backwards, after I regained my balance I pulled her in close, she buried her face and body into my chest. I noticed she was sobbing slightly, realising that I could do almost nothing, I embraced her tightly and kissed the top of her head.

"It's alright wise girl, it's alright." I murmured, my speech getting muffled by her hair which I was still burying my face in. I finally noticed Grover fidgeting sheepishly outside the door, or goatishly... I guess. After Annabeth stopped death gripping me Grover told me he would rent another room for the night, saying that he need the privacy, when he was stepping out the door I shot him a thankful look and he smiled grimly at me, for such a friend he really did act like a protector and not the fun kind.

I heard the clock tick over and looked at the face; 11:24, I looked down at Annabeth, she was curled up in my lap and had her head buried into my shirt, the "new" T-shirt now looked like it had been squirted with a water gun, because down the left side of my chest was a thin streak of dried up tears, making it look a bit see through. I nudged Annabeth and she looked up at me, beautiful but tear streaked.

"I think I need to change into a different shirt, babe." I said, gesturing at my current one.

"Fine." She said, with a little bit of a scowl on her face, I got the feeling if she didn't have to, she wouldn't have moved. Like ever.

I walked over to my backpack and pulled out the last clean shirt I had, I quickly made a mental note to buy another on the way to the 3rd robot. I stripped off my shirt and scrunched it into the bag, ready to pull on my new one. All of a sudden I felt Annabeths cold fingers sliding around my waist and wrapping themselves around each other, apparently the death grip was back because she leaned her head into my back and tightened her arms. I slowly undid her grip from around my stomach and turned around, she was looking at me in that sort of cute, sort of scary Annabeth way. I leaned down tenderly and slowly pressed my lips onto hers, passionately exploring her mouth with my tongue. She responded slowly and I could feel her body pressing up against mine, I was overcome by a strong sense of lust so I softly pushed both my hands into her hair, feeling her blonde, silky hair pushed me over the edge and I slowly disengaged the kiss to gently push her against the white plaster walls, I passionately met her lips in a ferocious kiss. As we waged a pleasurable war with each other my hands traced the sides of her jaw, feeling every contour and smooth edge, at the same time I could feel Annabeth's hands exploring my stomach, I shuddered as she started feeling every muscle on my chest. Quick as lightning I reached down and took hold of Annabeth's thighs, she released a low moan as I wrapped her legs around my waist and held her up against the wall, I released my hold on her lips to press mine against her neck making her shiver against me, I looked into her eyes and realised how much I loved this woman. Maybe leaving her on her own was worse than letting a monster attack her, I thought. She laced her arms around my shoulders and leaned in for another kiss and I indulged her, after that, things turned into a fuzzy darkness as I descended into a night of pleasure with Annabeth Chase.


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors notes: Heres a chapter 8, thanks for 10 follows guys. And over 1000+ views in under a week. Enjoy this chapter, ladies and gentlemen!**

Chapter 8: The Merge  
Percy's P.O.V

My eyes fluttered open as I woke up and I gently lifted my arms up and stretched them, yawning softly. As I was bringing them back down, I noticed that Annabeth was in the same bed as me and she was under the covers... I slowly lifted up the quilt on the motel bed and glanced underneath... Good, I had boxers on, but that was it. I dropped the covers back down and they floated to a halt again. As I was regaining my senses I realised that Annabeth was wrapped around me, her bronzed leg was draped over my hip, holding me in place and her left arm was wrapped around my upper body, her head was buried into my chest and I could feel her breath rising and falling evenly. At this angle I could see down her black, lacy bra perfectly... I blushed inwardly and immediately looked away, cursed myself for invading her privacy, not that I could really escape. I closed my eyes and curled my arms around Annabeth's warm midriff, I could definitely get used to waking up like this.

"Maybe another hour." I thought to myself as I pulled Annabeth's beautiful, sleeping shape into me. I heard her mutter something undecipherable into my chest and smiled to myself, once again I was losing myself in her heat and then I fell into a pit of happiness that I didn't ever want to leave.

I woke up for the second time when Annabeth started to shift underneath my arms, I flung them out of the way as she started to rise. I saw her cheeks flush as she noticed that we were in the same bed wearing nothing but under garments. Her blonde hair swept across her chest as she looked down at me, her face started to turn crimson as she realised her leg was wrapped around my hips and her hand was pressed down on my bare chest, when she removed her hand off my chest I leaned up and brushed her messy curls out of her face, kissing her passionately, I then leaned over the top of her bringing her back down onto the bed, I lifted my lips from hers to go get dressed, as I started to put my jeans on, I swear I heard her sigh. Once we were both fully dressed and cleaned up, we went to check on Grover.

I knocked on his door lazily as Annabeth slowly shifted on her hips beside me, he answered the door, and looked at me accusingly. I grinned at Annabeth as her cheeks lit up like a Christmas tree once Grover started stared at her in a disappointed way. Once we were inside Grover finally said something.

"Do you know why the empathy link was shattered?", I shrugged in question as he started to devour an apple.

"The best I can think is that he hit me hard enough for it to break... I guess?" I said questioningly.

"No, Percy that's not how the empathy link works," he said, "you can't just, break them like a pane of glass, it feels like it was EMP'd or something. The good thing is that I can feel it slightly, especially when you feel an emotion very strongly, so that means that it might repair itself." He looked at both of us pointedly, and then he froze.

"What the? Can you smell that, guys?" He stammered.

"What Grover, we can't smell things like you Satyrs?" Asked Annabeth.

"It's smells like... Nothing." Grover answered, confused.

"Nah, it's alright G-man, you can tell us what it is." I said as reassuringly as I could.

"No, Percy, it literally smells like nothing, it's like there is a small space around you where there is no scent. I doesn't make sense, usually I can smell sea salt when I'm around you but right now, you smell like... Absolutely nothing.".

"Wait..." Said Annabeth questioningly, "doesn't that mean that monsters can't smell Percy either?"

"I guess it does, doesn't it." Grover said, still clearly confused.

I shifted my backpack on my shoulder, because it had started to dig into my shoulder.

"Shouldn't we, y'know try to kill the 3rd robot." I said awkwardly.

"What robot?" Annabeth said sharply, and then I remembered that they had no idea what they were doing here. For the best of half an hour I told them exactly what had happened and why I was here, about half way through my speech, Justin trotted into the room and sat down making the conversation a full circle, I felt like I was giving a pep talk to my team... Yeah, my team.

At about 1:00pm all of us were ready to go and slay a giant robot, whatever shape it came in. Grover, Annabeth and I walked to the closest car rentals, which happened to be only 5 minutes walk down the road, once we were there Grover rented a car.

"Really, Grover?" I whined, jokingly. "Did you really have to get the yellow one?".

"Yes Percy, it's way more inconspicuous that the black one." He stated it like it was fact.

"Yeah, right." I thought, as I looked down at the sunflower yellow Hyundai. This... Thing couldn't have been more conspicuous if it tried. From past experiences I realised that arguing with Grover about colours would be pointless, so I just hopped in the back and strapped myself in, ready for a long car trip, Annabeth hopped into the back seat with me and we sat together in silence as Grover opened the passenger door for Justin, oh yeah, good time to mention it, apparently Grover can talk to Justin because of the whole "Animal and Satyr" thing, which is good for us because now we don't have to let him lead us on foot, he can just sort of just... Direct Grover in the right direction.

The car jolted to a start and we set off at a solid 80mph.

"This is gonna be a long trip, from what Justin has to say guys, so settle in" Grover called from up front, " not that it will be hard for you two." He muttered quietly afterwards. I smiled at Annabeth as she pulled out Daedalus' laptop from her backpack and started fiddling with it. I stretched out and slung my arm over her shoulder as she shrunk into my chest, somehow I thought that this car trip might not go long enough.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author notes: Sorry for uploading this, after a fortnight break I'm back with chapter 9! This is a long one so strap yourself in :) Enjoy**

Chapter 9:  
Annabeth P.O.V

I stirred back into consciousness as the car pulled to a stop, the first thing I noticed was Percy's arm draped carelessly around my shoulders and that Daedalus' laptop had been closed and put into my backpack, yet the zipper was still open, how thoughtful of whoever did that. I looked out the window and realised that it and just turned into daybreak, we had been driving for almost 17 hours. I stretched and realised how stiff I was, I gently lifted Percy's arm off my back and hopped out of the car, Grover and Justin were standing outside conversing but I really couldn't be bothered hearing what Grover had to say so I hobbled over to the back of the car, and sat where the spoiler should have been. After stretching a bit and loosening my muscles up I went and woke Percy up, he greeted me with bleary eyes and a pearly smile and then he lifted up his shoulder to stretch. Whilst he was doing this I walked over to where Grover was standing.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Colorado" he replied. I had never been to Colorado, I looked around sort of expecting to see different things, but I was only greeted with medium sized hills and squawking birds flying overhead, nothing very special. We were out out in the middle of nowhere, the only thing I could see was a run down diner off in the distance with no patrons, it looked particularly depressing.

"What's so great about this place?" I squinted, as the sun glared down.

"Justin says that whatever it is that we're hunting, is here." Grover handed me a pair of dark sunglasses. I raised my eyebrows skeptically but put them on regardless, he whistled at me jokingly and I glared at him, but I realised that the sunglasses covered my eyes and I probably looked normal.

Behind me I heard scuffling as I saw a dishevelled Percy limp out of the car, wincing as he massaged his stiff bones. He looked at us questioningly when he saw that we were in a very non-substantial area.

"Uhh, where are we?" He questioned.

"Colorado." I said, before Grover could say anything, I grinned at him smugly.

"It's boring." Said Percy matter of a factly.

Suddenly the sound of Justin's trademark rustling bushes came from a few nearby and sure enough a few moments later, out came Justin. Cantering at a decent pace he ran at us barking words to Grover.

"Justin says he's found the scent of whatever we are hunting, apparently this one smells a lot stronger than the others." Grover translated quickly.

Justin yapped at us hurriedly we all got ready to follow him on foot, after everyone had finished preparing we set off after Justin, who wasted no time following whatever scent he could smell. In no time we came to a huge mountain and a sign that read "Flattop Mt. Garfield county".

"So that's where we are." Grover exclaimed excitedly, I saw Percy shoot him a confused look.

"Wait, so you were the driver, but you didn't know where you were driving to?" He said.

"Uhh, well I was really just paying attention to what Justin was saying..." Grover defended.

"Whatever!" I interrupted, Justin had kept walking and had almost disappeared into the brush again, he was clearly focused on whatever scent he could smell. We all hurried to catch up, as he led us up Mt. flattop.

My legs were burning as we mounted the steep incline and we eventually arrived at a huge clearing, the sun shone down at us like a hot radiator and my shoulders were slick with sweat. I gazed around the clearing, it was about the size of half a football field and huge pine tress circled the clearing, it almost felt like a boxing ring without an escape. I realised that at the completely opposite end of the clearing, the mouth of a cave opening gaped. Uncannily white mist floated in front of the entrance completely obscuring me from seeing whatever was hidden in the depths. It was obvious that whatever we had to defeat resided in that cavern, and it must have been huge. Beside me I heard the sound of metal grinding against metal.

Percy's P.O.V

I drew my sword and stared at the mist, as though eventually it would clear up and reveal what stood behind it. I vaguely registered Grover's whimpering and Justin's growling to my left, we must have stood there for at least a couple of minutes until it was obvious that whatever was in that cave either wasn't home, or didn't want to come out.

I looked at Annabeth worriedly, we were going to have to approach that cave weren't we?

"Damn, we have to go in don't we?" I said, I knew the answer already, but I just wanted to make sure.

"Yep" said Annabeth sharply. Great, just great. With a sigh Annabeth and I walked side by side to the mouth of the cave, I tried to keep as cautious as I could but with my ADHD my mind kept wandering and my eyes kept flickering towards Annabeth, even slick with sweat and mouth set in a tight, grim line she was exceptionally beautiful.

The one thing I had always regretted was that I had never gotten to do all the normal stuff a usual kid does, like go to a prom and dance with a partner, or sneak notes across a desk in history class. In that moment I promised myself that if I survived what was to come... I was going to dance with that goddamn attractive girl beside me, and it was going to be sweet.

All of a sudden a slow breeze picked up, Annabeth and I were about half way to the cave and almost exactly in the middle of the huge field. The wind picked up, gaining speed until my hair was waving uncontrollably, then I saw what was inevitably the third and final automaton.

The huge bronze beast thumped into the ground in front of the cave entrance, then I realised what animal it was modelled after, it was in the shape of a huge dragon. It elongated to its full length and I realised it must have been about 25ft tall whilst it stood on its hind legs, this one unlike the squid was perfectly finished and was an exquisite piece of machinery, it rivalled the beauty of the orbs tucked deeply into my backpack. The metallic plates that covered the dragons whole body, gave it the look of a oversized eagle. The feathers were very intricately carved to look extremely elegant, and that they did. It's head was very cool it reminded me of the dragons that you see in the movies, it had two elegant horns that each had a twist near the middle, both were completely symmetrical to the other. It's shiny snout was gaping open slightly and I could see cogs and a metal barrel inside, it looked complicated, something that the Hephaestus cabin would have a field day with, it's eyes glowed an immense crimson. I noticed that it had rotated its head 45 degrees and was regarding Annabeth and I in what seemed like question, or maybe it was wondering how quickly it could kill us.

After a few moments of holding the dragons gaze, I noticed that Grover and Justin had snuck around the dragon and were appearing out of the forest about 50 metres behind it.  
I saw Grover bend down and whisper something to Justin, then he took out his reed pipes and started playing, I was a good 200ft away from him, yet I could hear the frantic jig he was playing as crisp and fresh as though he was standing in front of me playing. The ground around the dragons razor sharp talons ruptured and roots the size of my arm burst forth out of the earth, enclosing the dragons feet in a matter of seconds.

Perhaps Grover had been practicing.

The dragon peered down at its legs, seemingly only noticing that's the roots were holding it down, just now. It lifted its front, right clawed paw, but the thick roots held fast... I smiled hoping that Grover could enclose the giant thing and make it extremely easy for me to slay the dragon. Even as I looked over, I knew that that was entirely out of the question, Grover was swaying on his feet and toppled over as I looked. The roots at the dragons feet stopped writhing up his legs and froze as though magic had stopped pulsing through them, and as I watched it tore its front right paw out of the roots and started swiping at the other limbs protruding out of the ground.

I sprinted towards the dragon, because if that thing got entirely free I stood no chance. As I ran towards the beast I, its wings extended to their full length and were no longer plastered to its sleek body, they were flapping like a bird in panic and resulted in strong gusts of wind hindering my progress. Even now as the dragon freed its 3rd constricted leg (the back right), I knew there was no way I'd make it to the beast at this rate, I then noticed a brown streak bolting towards the dragon from the side. The streak payed no attention to the wind, and it didn't hinder its progress at all. The trouble was that the dragon noticed that the brown streak was Justin at the same moment I did, as Justin sped towards the beast it stopped pawing at its last leg and turned to face the oncoming threat.

Justin was sprinting so fast he turned into a blur, I had trouble even seeing him run towards the dragon. But unlike me the dragon had a mechanical brain and was following his progress precisely, the dragon reared up onto its hind legs as Justin arrived, but instead of crushing him like I expected he would try, his mouth whirred open and let loose a hurricane of brilliant orange flame. It engulfed exactly where Justin had been standing and just like that my companion was gone. I couldn't see a body... Poor guy must have been incinerated to ash. The dragon was regarding the ground it had just burnt as I pounced on its back.

It bucked insanely, and I flew off its back. Mid-air I saw its bronze tail flick towards me, and as I sailed past it, I twisted my body to try and grab the fine plates. It amazed me when I realised I had actually grasped onto one, the amazement was cut short when I realised I was going to be whipped into the ground. I let go of the tail as I was tossed towards the grassy earth, I hit the ground and I could practically feel the bones in my ribcage shudder under the pressure of me thumping into the dirt. I vaguely noticed a blur of blonde whiz past me as my brain rattled around in my skull.

Annabeth's P.O.V

Percy leaped onto the Dragons back, and as it flailed around I noticed that on the side of the largest plates on its breast it was engraved "Jim", who in their right mind names a huge, killer dragon Jim?

I zoned back in and realised that Percy was now being whipped around on its tail, seaweed brain was probably going to need a little bit of help. Percy was flung to the ground and landed with a sickening thud as I sprinted past him, dagger in hand. Usually when I get into a fight I know what I'm going to do, and how I'm going to defeat my adversary, this time... I was going in blind. I'm pretty sure I was going to die, but I've got to try.

I mounted its tail and ran up its back, using the scales to my advantage. The dragon shuddered and I knew it was going to buck, so I quickly threw myself down onto its back and used the most comfortable plates as handholds. It started to throw itself around and I was vaguely reminded of the time bronze bulls broke through the camp borders and wreaked havoc. It was still throwing itself around when I noticed a loose wire poking out from between two scales on its neck, just out of my reach.

The dragon was not going to get tired from this I realised, because it was a robot. So either I kill it or get flung to the ground painfully. Then I realised something... It was a robot. I felt the movements of the dragon and started to memorise the order in which it did them, this guy had a programmed sequence to his bucking movement. Suddenly my left hand slipped from the scale it was supposed to be clenched onto and I realised that the jarring of the dragon was making my muscles cramp and fail, I had to do something quick or we were all going to die.

I flung my body up in desperation hoping that this was the moment in the cycle where the dragon lulled for a second. My hand grasped around the red insulated wire and I wrenched it pulling it into a U shape, I dragged the blade of my knife across the wire and slit it cleanly in two... The dragon froze for a second, and then the second part of its cycle was started and I felt my weight lift off its back, before the blackness in my head took over the I saw the dragons bronze head swivel around, its mouth lit up, sparks flew and I knew a flamethrower was priming to fire, and then it faltered.


End file.
